On 19 September Massimo Antonini and Giampaolo Calzà completed the first ascent of Via Giovanni Segantini on the East Face of Monte Colodri, Arco, Italy.

The route pays homage to both the 1858 Arco born artist and the art of climbers themselves who interpret virgin walls as a canvass for their new climbs. Unsurprisingly the 8th pitch follows the legendary "Specchio delle mie brame", the line first ascended by Roberto Bassi and Heinz Mariacher in the golden days of sport climbing development in Arco.

As Calzà explains: "this is a famous pitch, extremely famous for all those who were around at the time: it's a slab, the first in the Sarva valley to have been bolted, bolted from above, on purpose for sport climbing by two famous climbers, Roberto Bassi and Heinz Mariacher, two forerunners of this sort not only in Arco but worldwide. Naturally we left this beautiful slab exactly how it had been conceived, which means the same distance between one bolt and the next. Needless to say that here good technique is of the essence."

GETTING THERE

Reach Arco.

ACCESS

From Arco head to the town swimming pool, then make your way up left to the base of the wall.

DESCENT

From the top of the route descend left to the Via Ferrata Colodri, or continue on down over limestone paving to Laghel and then the center of Arco.